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Nov 29, 2016

Janice and Kate will be appearing together again 11/30 at 10:30 AM PST. Tune in to Facebook LIVEthis Wednesday to watch another great show and participate with your comments as they follow-up last week's well-received Thread Primer broadcast with a fantastic tutorial. This week, Janice shares her signature technique for Knotting Pearls and other semi-precious beads! Knotting between beads is a wonderful finishing technique that adds a professional quality to your beaded jewelry, and it's not as hard as you might think it is. Even if you already know how to knot, you will probably learn a few new tips and tricks from Janice, who is a master beaded jewelry designer. As an added bonus, Kate will teach essential wire-wrapping skills for earrings and pendants to enhance your knotted designs.Recordings of past Facebook broadcasts are also now available after the show airs over on the beadshop YouTube channel.

Nov 25, 2016

You don't have to wait until Cyber Monday to get in on the sale everyone has been waiting for all year. Beadshop started up its holiday sale early, and it runs through the weekend, ending on Monday, 11/28 Midnight PST.

Take 35% off everything storewide by entering GIVING35 as your coupon code when you checkout.

There will also be various doorbuster free gifts for early-bird shoppers. In order to qualify for doorbusters, you must use Subscriber Discount Code GIVING35 at checkout. One gift per order. Quantities are limited. Storewide Sale ends Monday, 11/28 Midnight PST.

To receive early notification about future sales and free gifts with purchase doorbusters, make sure you have signed up for the beadshop newsletter.

Scoop up your bead sand beading supplies no matter where you live now because beadshop is super happy to announced that worldwide shipping is just $10! Finally! We have had so many requests from bead artists who live outside the US, and now you can finally get your bead fix with very reasonable shipping rates.Just in time for holiday shopping...At checkout choose this option: $10 parcel connect first class with tracking. You can find more shipping details for the US, Canada, and worldwide on beadshop's Shipping FAQ page.

Nov 21, 2016

After spending your precious time loom weaving a beautiful bracelet, like the Henning pictured above that was created by Kate Richbourg, you need to make sure everything, including how you finish it, is just right. The beginning of a project is important, but ending a jewelry design the right way is equally important.

With the loom bracelet finishing kits, you can add a finishing touch to your final design, and it is a convenient way to make sure you have every single component you need: swivel clasp, slide tubes, jump rings, chain, and charm. They are currently available in three finishes.

Nov 17, 2016

For regular beadshop shoppers, make sure you bookmark the Just In page of the web store so that you can stop by occasionally and get the scoop on all the new beads, components, and beading supplies that recently arrived. There are usually half a dozen or more pages worth of new materials to explore. Most recently, there are some interesting metal-based components available.

Climbing Wisteria

Climbing Wisteria - Antique Brass Pendants are new and elegant. They measure 18 x 2mm and are available in four different metal plating: antique brass, antiqued copper, antiqued silver, and matte gold. The base is brass, and these are made in Israel by JBB. Not only are these pendants hypoallergenic, they are also lead-free. Keep them simple and add them to a chain, or use them to adorn a wrap bracelet.

Coppered Hematite

Coppered Hematite Strands are very unusual. Copper pyrite coating is plated over these 4mm hematite rondelles. These are sold per strand, and each strand measures 15-½ inches with approximately 168-170 beads.

Cornerstone Clasps

Cornerstone Clasps are available in three finishes: copper, brass, and silver plate over base metal. These clasps are imported from Greece and measure 28mm x 25mm with an opening of 20mm x 2.5mm with three strong magnets keep it securely fastened. While those jewelry designers who love to create large loom beaded pieces will find these textured clasps useful, they can also be used by bead stringers who want to make multiple strand jewelry pieces.

Nov 9, 2016

Hi Gang,
Thanks so much for joining me for my latest beadshop.com Facebook LIVE. It was really fun hanging out and chatting about beads and clasps to use in loomed projects.

As promised, here is a wrap-up of the projects and products from the broadcast.

Illusion Cuff and Provence are the two new looming projects I shared on the broadcast. The Illusion Cuff is has five color ways to choose from, or design your own using our easy to follow recipe. Perfect for the Jewel Loom and is a great grab and go project for the holidays.

Provence is the latest offering in Tricks to Looming. The design showcases a variety of 4mm beads. since the beads are so large, looming with them is really fast. You could finish this project in an afternoon while you watch a movie or two. All the details for both projects are on the project pages of our website.

I also showcased a few of our magnetic clasps and how great they are for ending your loomed bracelets. We carry a wide variety of styles and finishes, so you are sure to find just what you need.

You can find a replay of the video on our Facebook page, YouTube Channel and right here on the blog. Join us every Wednesday at 10:30 AM Pacific time for a new LIVE broadcast... and if you're not on our newsletter list, click over on this link and sign up. We send out a bunch of exclusive newsletter subscriber content that you won't want to miss.

Nov 8, 2016

So, you have the loom now, right? Or, maybe you are still thinking about getting the Jewel Loom, but then what? What's your first project? Where do you start to learn how to use this tool? The Tapestry Woven Bracelet, of course, is a good project to get you excited about this fun tool. As with many tools and jewelry making supplies, beadshop has designed jewelry projects for the Jewel Loom and gone so far as to write up step-by-step instructions. Download the free Tapestry Woven Bracelet pdf, and start plotting your future jewelry making projects right away.

The free handout has loads of step-out instructions that include helpful details and color photographs.

Tapestry Woven Bracelet How-To Photo

Eighteen pages make up this project handout with over two dozen full-color photographs that accompany how-to step-by-step instructions.

The Posies bracelet (pictured at the very top of this post) is one of 12 designs using the loom as well as glass seed beads, crystal Czech beads, and 2-hole glass beads. This project has become so popular that beadshop has recently added four new designs: Posies, Monet's Garden, New Orleans, and Java. Don't allow your loom to become lonely and unloved!

Nov 2, 2016

Hi Gang!
Thanks for watching our Facebook Live broadcast this week. It was great to share Looming and Laddering with SuperDuos with so many viewers. Thanks so much for your questions, comments, link shares and likes! It really means a lot.

The Jewel Loom has become popular at beadshop lately, thanks to Kate’s wonderful video on Facebook. If you’ve been wondering if a loom is something you might want to try some time, then it might be helpful to have an understanding of the difference between using a loom versus not using a loom to weave beads. First, let’s consider bead weaving in general. Bead weaving is much like fiber related weaving in that a piece of fabric of some kind is the end result. When weaving with beads, instead of fiber, you end up a piece of fabric made with beads. This beaded fabric can then be turned into a finished piece of jewelry such as this Venetian Sunset braceletby Janice Parsons.

So, now what’s the difference between off-loom weaving and loom weaving? With off-loom weaving, normally a single needle and thread is used. For a few designs, you might use two needles and two threads, but that would be the largest number of threads you would normally be working with. As you thread your needle through beads and weave them together, with off-loom bead weaving you are required to use your hands to hold the piece you are making, or you may sometimes be able to set the piece on a flat surface as well. However, it will often require that you pick up the piece with one hand and keep it stationary while using your other hand to weave the beads with the needle and thread.

With loom bead weaving, the loom provides a way to assist you in holding your work and keeping it in place as you weave, which is often why some beaders prefer a loom. Again, like a regular fiber loom, you have multiple threads in two directions – vertical and horizontal – as you work on a loom. The horizontal threads are the “weft” threads, and the vertical are the “warp” threads. Because you have the loom to keep your work in one spot, looms can mean you might work a little faster than if you did not use this extra tool to weave beads.

Ultimately, it comes down to a very subjective and personal preference decision on whether to use a loom or not when weaving with beads. Both work, and both can give you the end result of creating a finishes piece of jewelry.